Hinged door for railway cars



May 2, 1933. G. G. GILPIN HINGEB DOOR FOR RAILWAY CARS Original Filed Sept. 14, 1929 Patented May 2 1933 NE'TED STATS GARTH G. GILPIN, OF RIVERSIDE, ILLINOI$, ASSIGNOR T0 UNION METAL PRODUCTS COMPANY, OF CHICAGO, iLLIN'OIS A CORPORATION OF DELAWVARE HINGED DOOR FOR RAILWAY CARS Original application filed September 14, 1929, Serial No. 392,632. Divided and. this application filed.

Ju1y 15, 1931.

My invention relates to the construction of railway cars having drop doors, such as hopper cars, hopper gondola cars, drop bottom or general service gondola cars, mill type gondolas having drop end doors, or the like, having a door forming a part of the car for retaining the load therein, which door is provided with hinges adjacent one of its edges and is capable of being dropped or swung open. Any means of raising the door to the closed position and any means for locking and releasing the door may be employed with my device. Such a door is commonly called a hopper door.

My door may be made of cast metal or a metallic rolled plate formed to the desired shape between dies.

An object of the invention is to provide a door of cast metal, preferably malleable iron or cast steel, having a panel portion forming a floor or wall of a hopper and to form and shape the entire door so that it will not be deformed by warping when cooling, and furthermore, will eliminate shrinkage cracks and internal stresses.

Another object of the invention is to provide a door of rolled steel or other metal which may easily be formed between dies upon a reciprocating press.

Another object of the invention is to reinforce a hopper car door in such a way to also increase the cubical capacity of the car.

In the drawing:

Fig. 1 shows a typical door incorporating my invention.

Fig. 2 is a section on line 22 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a section one line 3-3 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 shows a modified construction.

This door comprises a main portion 2 and a depressed portion 4: in spaced substantially parallel planes connected by a continuous web 3. The main portion is preferably substantially flat to engage fiat bearing surfaces Serial No. 550,935.

The depressed portion is preferablysemispherical and may project upwardly to form an arch, as shown in Fig. 3, or may project downwardly to form a suspension member,

as shown in Fig. 4.

The web is preferably positioned obliquely so as not to retain any part of the load on the door when it is in dropped position. However, the web may be at right angles to the main portion and still come within the scope of the invention. The main portion 2, the web 8, and a pair of the depressed portion 3 form what is known as a Zsection, which is very strong in both compression and tension, and the remainder of the depressed portion carries the load to this Z-section. In larger. doors the depressed portion at may have to be reinforced in order to carry the load to the Z-section, in which case I prefer to provide reinforcements in the form of a plurality of preferably parallel ribs 19 which extend from the hinge side of the door toward the opposite side thereof and merge into the depressed portion 4 adjacent the web 3. The hinge lugs are shown opposite the door supporting means 20, The Z-section extends continuously around the perimeter of the door. The web 3 also extends contlnuously around the door and is spaced apart from the outer margin thereof. This web is preferably formed on large radii at the corners of the door so that the stresses caused by the imposed load will not concentrate at any corner of the door.

In the usual form of hopper door the upper surface is flat and corresponds to the main portion 2 of my door so it will be observed that in my construction the cubical capacity of the car is increased. standard A. R. A hopper car now in general use my door increases the cubical capacity about eight cubic feet, which permits the car to carry about four hundred 45 adjacent the edges of the hopper opening. more pounds of coal.

In the" The accompanying drawing illustrates the preferred form of the invention, though it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the exact details of construction shown and described, as it is obvious that various modifications thereof, within the scope of the claims, will occur to persons skilled in the art.

This is a division of my co-pending application No. 392,632, filed September 14, 1929.

I claim:

1. A door forming part of the load retaining means of a railway car provided with hinge lugs at one side thereof and supporting brackets at the opposite side thereof, said door comprising a flat marginal portion and a semi-spherical depressed portion connected by a web, whereby the cubical capacity of the car is increased.

2. A door forming part of the load retaining means of a railway car provided with hinge lugs at one side thereof and supporting brackets at the opposite side thereof, said door comprising a fiat marginal portion and a semi-spherical depressed portion connected by a web, whereby the cubical capacity of the car is increased, said semispherical portion projecting outwardly from the interior of the car so as to further increase the cubical capacity of the car.

3. A door forming part of the load retaining means of a railway car comprising a flat marginal portion and a semi-spherical depressed portion connected by a web, whereby the cubical capacity of the car is increased.

4. A door forming part of the load retaining means of a railway car comprising a flat marginal portion and a semi-spherical depressed portion connected by a web, whereby the cubical capacity of the car is increased, said semi-spherical portion projecting outwardly from the interior of the car so as to further increase the cubical capacity of the car.

5. A door forming part of the load reraining means of a railway car comprising a flat marginal portion and a semi spherical depressed portion connected by a web whereby the cubical capacity of the car is increased, said semi-spherical portion projecting outwardly from the interior of the car so as to further increase the cubical capacity of the car, and ribs reinforcing the semi-spherical portion.

GARTH G. GILPIN. 

